Hepatitis

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding his Department provided to the Face It campaign on hepatitis C in each year since 2004; what steps he has taken to promote the campaign to  (a) primary care trusts,  (b) acute trusts and  (c) strategic health authorities in England; how his Department has monitored the effectiveness of the campaign; and what recent meetings his Department has held with (i) patient groups, (ii) healthcare professionals, (iii) NHS bodies, (iv) community groups and (v) other stakeholders on developing the campaign.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested on funding provided by the Department for the "FaCe It" campaign is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  FaCe It campaign expenditure by financial year, 2003-04 to 2007-08 
			  Financial year  Expenditure (£000 to the nearest £10,000) 
			 2003-04 150 
			 2004-05 690 
			 2005-06 1,280 
			 2006-07 1,900 
			 2007-08 (Forecast) 2,980 
			 Total 7,000 
		
	
	The "FaCe It" campaign has used a range of communication methods to promote awareness of hepatitis C to health care professionals, including:
	information packs for health care professionals including guidance on testing for hepatitis C;
	a quick reference guide on hepatitis C for primary care;
	a new NHS hepatitis C website, including a section for health care professionals;
	features in health care professional journals;
	exhibition stands at conferences for health care professionals; and
	meetings with local health care professionals and other stakeholders, as part of a regional hepatitis C awareness event that has visited about 30 cities in England.
	A range of methods are being used to assess the effectiveness of the campaign, including:
	epidemiological surveillance of hepatitis C testing and diagnosis by the Health Protection Agency (HPA);
	research into levels of awareness and related issued among health care professionals and the public;
	number of visits to the campaign website;
	number of calls to the Hepatitis C Information Line; and
	extent of media coverage.
	Departmental officials or the "FaCe It" campaign team at Munro and Forster, which is acting for the Department, have held a range of meetings with stakeholders since January 2007 including:
	 Patient groups
	British Liver Trust
	Hepatitis C Trust
	Mainliners Hepatitis C Resource Centre
	National Hepatitis C Network
	 Health care professionals and national health service bodies
	regional and local stakeholders in Barnsley, Bradford, Colchester, Dudley, Exeter, Ipswich, Isle of Wight, Maidstone, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, and Oxford(1).
	Royal College of General Practitioners
	Royal College of Nursing
	 Community groups
	Association of the British Hujjaj UK
	South Asian Health Foundation
	 Other stakeholders
	HPA
	National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse
	(1) These meetings may have included representation from local voluntary and community groups.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority: Inspections

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reports of occurrences inconsistent with routine patient care were made to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority by Professor Alison Murdoch in each year of her tenure as an inspector; and how many serious incidents were reported to the Authority.

Dawn Primarolo: The definition of the type of incident that would be considered to be serious and, therefore, likely to be inconsistent with routine treatment, was introduced on 5 July 2007 when the 7th edition of the "Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) code of practice" was published. The HFEA has advised me that, in accordance with its policy to encourage licensed clinics to reports incidents, including those occurrences that would be considered to be near misses, it does not disclose the names of clinics that have reported an adverse incident nor the number of incidents reported by a particular clinic.
	The HFEA introduced its incident alert reporting system in 2003, requiring licensed establishments to report any adverse incident relating to treatment services that is potentially harmful or actually causes harm to any person, embryos, gametes or staff. The number of incidents handled has been included each year in the HFEA's annual report:
	
		
			  HFEA incident alert system: number of incidences handled since 2002-03( 1) 
			   Number 
			 2002-03 65 
			 2003-04 79 
			 2004-05 71 
			 2005-06 97 
			 2006-07(2) 224 
			 (1) Numbers cover all licensed clinics that have submitted a report. (2 )The most recent year for which a report has been published.  Source:  HFEA annual reports 2003-04 to 2006-07. 
		
	
	HFEA has worked with clinics to encourage greater reporting, including lower risk incidents and events that are categorised as near misses. This is to ensure that that lessons learned from such events can be circulated to other clinics, so avoiding a repeat elsewhere in the sector. The HFEA attributes the increase, from 97 incidents in 2005-06 to 224 in 2006-07, to more comprehensive reporting by clinics.

Local Involvement Networks

Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to promote the involvement of patients and the public in monitoring the effectiveness of services provided for the NHS by the  (a) third and  (b) private sector;
	(2)  if he will ensure that the Local Involvement Network Regulations 2008 include provisions requiring private sector providers of health and social care to allow members of local involvement networks to enter their premises for the purpose of monitoring the quality of health and social care.

Ann Keen: The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, set out important new arrangements for the involvement of patients and the public in health and social care, including local involvement networks (LINks). LINks will enable local people to monitor local services irrespective of who provides them.
	LINks will build on the work of voluntary and community sector groups; and, enable genuine involvement of a far greater number of people than is currently available, ensuring local communities have a stronger voice in the process of commissioning health and social care and enabling them to influence key decisions about the services they both use and pay for.
	In order to ensure that independent sector providers—be they from the private or third-sector—cooperate with LINks, we will make directions requiring primary care trusts and local authorities to ensure that their contracts with the independent and third sectors allow LINks entry to appropriate premises and access to appropriate information. This will ensure that LINks will have the same levels of access as they do in the public sector.
	These changes are aimed at promoting open and transparent communication between communities and the health service, and will develop trust and confidence, increasing accountability to local people.